Instrument case



OBUIL'H mom I I llnnn, n

INVENTOR.

A. LANGSNER INSTRUMENT CASE Filed April 1, 1942 Oct. 26, 1943.

BY 5004012 lazzaazzer "Mafia-e" a.

Patented Oct. 26, 1943 7 INSTRUMENT CASE Adolph Langsner, Chicago,

Ill., assignor to Eugene Dietzgen 00., Chicago, Ill., a corporation ofDelaware Application April 1, 1942, Serial No. 437,145

1 Claim.

My invention relates in general to containers and has more particularreference to cases for drafting instruments, the invention pertainingespecially to an instrument case having individually shaped pockets eachfor the reception of a particular instrument, part, or accessory.

An important object of the invention resides in the provision of apocketed instrument case formed to facilitate instrument removal fromand replacement in the pockets; a further object being to form theseparate pockets as depressions or grooves in the surface of aninstrument supporting board, the several depressions or grooves beingseparated and defined by elevated land portions extending between thedepressions, placement of instruments in and removal thereof from thedepressions being facilitated by cutting away sections of the depressiondefining land portions between adjacent depressions to afford space forthe insertion of the fingers on opposite sides of an instrument, part oraccessory in a depression; a further object being to interconnect thedepressions by eliminating the intervening land portions therebetweenpreferably at the ends of the depressions.

Another important object is to form a mounting board for instruments ofthe character mentioned, having surface depressions arranged therein insubstantially parallel spaced-apart relationship for the individualreception of drafting instruments, parts, and accessories whereinadjacent instrument-receiving d e p r e s s i o n 5 formed in thesurface of the mounting board are interconnected by cutting away orotherwise removing portions of the elevated lands which extend betweenand which define the several pocket forming depressions; a furtherobject being to form the individual instrument pockets as surfacegrooves in a block or plate of material such as wood, each groove havingparallel side edges, thereby facilitating the formation of such groovesas a simple milling operation.

Another important object is to facilitate the application of a fabriccover material on the grooved instrument receiving surface of themounting plate by cutting away portions of the elevated lands whichdefine the depressed instrument receiving pockets in said surface tothereby facilitate the stretching of the fabric on the grooved surfaceof the pocketed instrument mounting block.

These and numerous other important objects, advantages, and inherentfunctions of the invention will be fully understood from the followingdescription, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,discloses a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of an instrument case embodying my presentinvention; and

Figures 2 and 3 are sectional views taken substantially along the lines2-2 and 3--3 in Figure 1 To illustrate the invention, I have shown onthe drawing an instrument case H comprising an instrument mounting blockl3 having cavities or pockets in its upper surface for the reception ofdrafting instruments, the case also preferably including a cover Iiihaving flexible portions ll secured to the opposite sides of themounting block and carrying flaps l9 and 20, which may be folded inoverlapping relationship upon the upper surface of the mounting block l3and secured together as by co-operating snap fasteners 2| in the fiap l9and 23 in the flap 20.

The cover l5 may comprise a generally rectangular sheet of material.such as leather, simulated lather fabric and the like, the sheetpreferably having a central portion 25 secured as by gluing the same tothe back of the block l3 with the flexible portion l'l integrallyconnected with the central portion 25 along bending lines 21 andextending thence outwardly of the block l3 at the opposite side edgesthereof. The flaps l9 and 20 preferably comprise integral extensions ofthe portions [1, the flaps being connected with said portions ll alongbending lines 29. The fiap 20 is preferably wide enough to overlie theentire area of the upper surface of the block l3 and may be providedwith a pad 3| which is secured thereto as by gluing, the pad preferablycomprising a surfacing sheet of soft material, such as plush, forcovering the instruments mounted on the upper surface of the block l3.

The mounting block I3 may be formed of any suitable material andpreferably comprises a rectangular plate or block of wood 33, the upperface of which is formed with grooves each individually sized and shapedfor the reception of an instrument, part, or accessory therein. In theillustrated embodiment, the grooves or pockets 35, 36 and 31 are adaptedto receive ruling pens, of which a sample ruling pen 38 is shownpositioned in the groove or pocket 31. The grooves or pockets 39 and 40,respectively, are adapt-ed to receive a screw-driver 42 and a removablecompass pen point 43. The pocket 44 is adapted to receive a cylindricalmetal case 45 for pencil leads. The pocket 4| is adapted to receive acompass 41. The pocket 48 is adapted to receive a. compass arm extension49. The pocket 5|] is adapted to receive dividers 5|, and the pockets 53are adapted to receive the head of bow instruments, namely, dividers,ink compass, and pencil compass, an ink compass 55 being shown inposition with its head or handle positioned in one of the pockets 53.

In instrument mounting blocks made in accordance with my presentinvention, the grooves are formed by milling the grooves with circulartools in such a way that the opposite side edges of the grooves, as faras possible, are parallel. For example, the opposite side edges of thepocket forming grooves 35, 36, 31, 39, 40, 44 and 48 have parallelspaced side edges defining the grooves throughout the entire extentthereof. The pocket-forming grooves 4| and 59 also have parallelspaced-apart edges substantially throughout the length of the grooves,the grooves at one end only being tapered to receive the points of thecompass and dividers, respectively, and the groove 4| being slightlyenlarged on one side near one end to accommodate the compass point clampscrew. The advantage of forming the pocket grooves in this fashion isthat each groove may be formed quickly and easily, as by a single strokeof the cutting tool across the face of the block, the grooves being madejust wide enough so that when the surface of the finished block iscovered with fabric such as plush, the resulting plush lined groovesform pockets for snugly receiving the instruments, compass, andaccessories which the board is designed to support.

It will be noted also that the pocket-forming grooves 53 consist ofportions defined by parallel sides so that the grooves may be made bymilling with a single stroke of the milling tool, in conjunction with aprevious or subsequent drilling operation for the formation of theenlarged groove portion. It will be noted that the severalpocket-forming grooves themselves are arranged in the block in parallelspaced-apart relationship, the grooves being separated the one from theother by elevated ribs, ridges or land portions 51, and it will be notedalso that all of the grooves, with the exception of the pocketforminggroove 44, open at one end upon cut away portions 59 at opposite ends ofthe block 33 so that when the instruments, compass, and accessories aremounted in their respective pockets, portions thereof extend in the cutaway portions 59, thereby affording convenient, space for the insertionof the fingers on opposite sides of each instrument portion whichextends in the cut away portions 59. Thus any instrument, part, oraccessory may be readily grasped for the removal thereof from the pocketcontaining the same.

With respect to the devices supported in the pockets 35, 39, 31, 39, 40,4|, 48 and 5D, the ends of such devices extend in position convenientfor grasping at the left-hand end of the block, as shown in Figure 1 ofthe drawing, while the arms of the bow devices, the heads of which aresupported in the pockets 53, extend in position for easy grasping at theright-hand end of the mounting block, as shown in Figure 1 of thedrawing. In order to facilitate the removal of the device 45 from thepocket, 44, which does not have an end opening upon a cut away portion,I may cut away the elevated lands, as at 60, on opposite sides of thepocket 44, thereby interconnecting the pocket 44 with the pockets 31 and4| in order to allow for the ready insertion of the fingers in said outout spaces 60 on the opposite sides of the device 45 so that it may begrasped and readily withdrawn from the pocket 44. In like fashion, ifdesired, the lands between other pockets may be cut away, as indicatedin dotted lines at 6|, in order to facilitate the removal of devicesfrom such pockets, although ordinarily most of the pockets may bearranged to open at one end upon a cut out portion 59.

In order to facilitate the fabrication of the board 33, it may be formedin sections, including a central section 63 containing the lands 51 andpocket-forming grooves opening at the opposite ends of the section, andsections 85 comprising the cut out portions 59 which may be secured, asby doweling, gluing, or otherwise, at the opposite ends of the section63, the joints between the section 63 and the sections 65 beingindicated at 61. The opposed ends of the block 33 are preferablyfinished by securing end pieces 69 thereto, as by doweling, gluing, orotherwise securing the end pieces to the board 33 to form joints ll. Theends and corners of the pocket forming grooves and of the interveninglands are preferably rounded and beveled slightly in order to facilitatethe application of a lining of fabric 13 to the upper face of theinstrument supporting block 33. This fabric preferably comprises a pieceof light weight plush material and is secured to the upper surface ofthe block 33 preferably by means of a suitable adhesive, the fabricbeing stretched and worked into the grooves and cut out portions 59, 6|]and 6|, and being stretched over the lands 51 in order to closely followthe configuration of the upper grooved surface of the block. Theopposite side edges of the fabric are extended around and secured to theside edges of the block, as indicated at 15, said side edges preferablyterminating on the bottom of the block in position covered by thecentral section 25 of the cover I5, as shown more particularly in Figure2 of the drawing. The opposite end edges of the fabric piece extend uponand cover the inwardly facing surfaces of the end pieces 59, as shownmore particularly at 11 in Figure 3 of the drawing.

, The edges of the end pieces 69 are preferably covered with fabricstrips 19 which may comprise extensions of the opposite end edges of thefabric piece 13, or the covering strips 19 may comprise any suitablecovering fabric, such as leather or coated fabric simulating leather.The outwardly facing surfaces of the end pieces 69 also are preferablycovered by pieces of finishing material 80 secured in place as by meansof a suitable adhesive.

Instrument cases made in accordance with the present invention aresimple to make and are inexpensive, since the fabrication of the groovedmounting block does not require particular care in shaping the groovesto fit the instruments; in fact, the formation of the grooves may bereduced to a simple drilling and machining operation in a suitable jig,the operation requiring a minimum number of relatively simple cuttingtools. The formation of the block 33 in accordance with my presentinvention, moreover, facilities and simplifies the application of thecove ering sheet 13, since the operation of stretching the fabric uponthe grooved surface and applying it in the grooves is made easy due tothe arrangement wherein nearly all of the grooves open at one end uponthe cut away portions 59 which, being fiat, afford little, if anydifficulty for the snug attachment of the fabric in flat condition atthe opposite ends of the block.

It is thought that the invention and its numerous attendant advantageswill be fully understood from the foregoing description, and it isobvious that numerous changes may be made in the form, construction andarrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention, or sacrificing any of its attendant advantages,the form herein disclosed being a preferred embodiment for the purposeof illustrating the invention.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

A mounting case for instruments comprising a support member having asurface formed with a plurality of pocket Iorming grooves, each sizedfor the snug reception of a portion of a device to be mounted therein,said grooves having bottoms lying substantially in a common plane,certain of said grooves compris dle receiving po file eiving portionopening upon an enlarged said depression to facilitate the grasping ofsaid arms in removing the bow instruments from the support member.

ADOLPH LANGSNER.

on having parallel side edges, amma

